BYP MORNING NEWSFLASH
September 28, 2011

The Grio’s Zerlina Maxwell has written a fascinating piece on the trial of 14 year-old George Junius Stinney, Jr., who was executed in 1944 for the murders of two young white girls in South Carolina. Though he’d even been a part of the search crew for the missing girls, Stinney was accused of and coerced into confessing to the murders. Zerlina writes:

“Reports claim the police offered Stinney ice cream if he confessed to them that he committed the double murder. Stinney confessed. There is no written record of his confession in the archives. There is no physical evidence linking Stinney to the murder. There is no paper record of Stinney’s conviction.”

When Stinney was put to death, they had to sit him on a stack of dictionaries in order for his head to reach the electrodes that would take his life.

Check out Maxwell’s article, and learn about the details of this horrific story, and the South Carolina attorney committed to reopening the case and clearing George Stinney’s name once and for all.

Blogger and radio host Rob Redding Jr. lit the internets ablaze with a report stating that President Obama wasn’t just concerned over the impending execution of Troy Davis, but actually took every step possible to intervene in the process; even going as far as calling the state of Georgia. The story has since been proven untrue, and Redding has retracted those statements from his original argument.

Too good to be true, I guess.

Remember that story about the racist bake sale at UC Berkeley? Yeah…the students at Berkeley aren’t too happy about it either. And according to Black Voices, massive protests have been launched to counter the bake sale. Meanwhile, others just want to enjoy some delicious brownies:

“Many students called the bake sale insensitive and accused the Republican organization of mocking the struggle of minority groups. Angry protesters screamed chants, staged a lie-in and carried signs, reading: “Don’t UC us?” Others pushed through the crowd to buy the baked goods, showing support for the Republican group.”

So a bake sale is tearing UC Berkeley apart and sparking national debate (again) about the merits of affirmative action. A bake sale. Maybe the media should have just ignored the bake sale. Why are we even giving these attention-seeking idiots the time of day? Just sayin…

Wayne Simmonds was allegedly caught on video calling New York Rangers player Sean Avery a faggot during Monday night’s preseason game. Avery is one of a few pro athletes who are outspoken advocates for gay rights and anti-bullying legislation. However, Avery has refused to confirm exactly what Simmonds said, and so the NHL is not pursuing punishment due to a lack of evidence, despite objections from GLAAD and other watchdog groups.

This year’s list of nominees for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame were announced yesterday, and the list is filled with some of my personal favorites; including Guns N’ Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Heart and Rufus with Chaka Khan.

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